The Great American Bake Sale

Today’s guest post is written by Jessica Bomberg, the manager of Great American Bake Sale, involved in Grassroots Fundraising and Youth Engagement at Share Our Strength. Jessica truly enjoys helping volunteers across the country give back to a cause that everyone cares about.

There is one staggering fact that drives people to get involved with Share Our Strength; there are more than 16 million kids in America struggling with hunger.  It can’t be ignored.  I am proud to say that there are volunteers across the country who have said they won’t stand to see kids go hungry. I have gotten to know so many of our Great American Bake Sale volunteers and I have to say, some of our most dedicated volunteers are kids!

I don’t have to tell you about the power of kids and their ability to make a difference, I get to see it every day. Kids of all ages hosting bake sales in their communities with their friends and families. They put together incredible events that bring attention and raise vital funds for a cause they care about. To me there’s nothing more powerful than kids helping kids.

Here’s a story from one such kid, 11-year-old Kate from Naperville, Ill. Kate and her entire family hosted their first bake sale last year and I want you to hear all about it:

“My mom came up with the idea of having a bake sale for Share our Strength and I loved it. For one, it would benefit the children in America who really are starving and in need of food, and, I would be able to give back while doing one of my favorite activities: baking.

While I really love to bake, I knew I wasn’t just baking for fun. There are kids in America, one in five, who are not getting the nutrition they need to be healthy. From the very beginning, I knew that by baking and selling goods, I would be able to help make a difference to those who need food. I have always been blessed to have enough and my heart goes out to children who don’t have enough. The whole experience of giving to others has been incredible.

The reaction from people in the neighborhood was really immense. We had more than 30 families and businesses donating goods or supplies. We had volunteers helping with set up, clean up, delivering goods to the sale location, and my entire family worked the sale. We raised more than  $2,200! Our sale was so large that a reporter interviewed us.

My experience with the first sale has motivated me to serve more. The Share our Strength organization is incredible, and I am really happy to know that people care about others who have less than we do. If you are considering doing a sale but you’re not sure if you can, just try a small one because every dollar you raise can really make a huge impact on the children in America who don’t have enough food to eat every day.”

Thanks to Kate and kids just like her, Share Our Strength is making strides in the fight to end childhood hunger in America. You too can play a part by hosting a bake sale of your own.  Signup today as part of the GenerationOn national team and together we can bake a difference!

Change Notes: Congratulations to Wendy Spencer, CEO of CNCS

Friends,

Last night, the U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed Wendy Spencer as the next CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS). The Points of Light extended family is thrilled to have her stepping into this critical leadership role.

Wendy Spencer is a terrific choice to lead the Corporation for National and Community Service at this important time. She brings deep experience in mobilizing national service resources and volunteers to meet the critical needs of our communities. Her energy, dynamism and history of working across the political divide will serve the Corporation well as it makes its case for continued and extended funding. Wendy takes the reins at CNCS at a juncture when service is making a greater impact than ever before. People are using all their resources – their time, talent, voice and money – to create positive change in their communities. We look forward to working with her to create innovative new ways for people to serve and continue to play a critical role in solving our nation’s problems. She is enormously respected in her home state of Florida for getting things done and she has played a vital role as a national leader for the service movement. Wendy’s leadership is exactly what we need and we look forward to supporting and partnering with her.

Yours in service,

Michelle Nunn

CEO Points of Light

Apply for the generationOn Youth Advisory Council

Today’s guest post is written by Rachel Shuster, a 10^th-grader at Half Hollow Hills High School West in Dix Hills, N.Y, who  is an inaugural member of the generationOn National Youth Advisory Council. At 12-years-old, she started a local chapter of a Kids Care Club, Kids Care HHH. Under her leadership, Kids Care HHH engages in service projects throughout their community raising awareness, money, creating change and bringing smiles to a variety of people while serving needs and causes both locally and globally.

The generationOn Youth Advisory Council is accepting applications from Tuesday, March 13,         10:00 a.m. EDT through Tuesday, April 10, 5:00 p.m. EDT. To apply, click here. If you know of a young person who would make a great leader, spread the word!

“This was the best day of my life.” These are the words that were told to me by a 5-year-old homeless girl as I and the other members of my Kids Care HHH packed up our carnival at a local shelter this past fall. Experiences like this continue to fuel my passion for service and volunteerism.

This was the most amazing year of my life. My experiences as part of generationOn’s Youth Advisory Council have inspired, taught, guided and compelled me to elevate my passion for service to another level. The Youth Advisory Council (YAC) quickly became a cohesive unit of 10 young adults that all had a similar goal to make their mark on the world. As a council, and as new and fast friends, we have worked together to spread the message in our communities that young people are valuable assets to our global society that can create change. The leadership training program provided by generationOn is invaluable. It has empowered me to be a better public speaker and leader of my organization. I know that this level of training is not ordinarily available to young people.

In addition to organizing a myriad of significant projects and events as a member of the YAC, I have had unique opportunities to share my ideas and experiences of engaging youth in service and inspiring them to make a difference in their communities by attending and hosting thought-provoking and inspirational events.

GenerationOn is on the cutting edge of empowering and equipping youth to take action to create change. I am so proud to be a part of this program and contribute to this important mission. I not only urge all youth to go out and “make their mark” but to apply for generationOn’s Youth Advisory Council and continue to engage their peers and other young people to work together to change the world for the better!

Exploring Youth Volunteer Opportunities

Today’s post is written by Simone Bernstein, a sophomore at St. Bonaventure University in Olean, N.Y., co-founded Volunteen Nation with her brother, Jake. Simone will be joining generationOn as a summer intern this June. Jake is a member of the generationOn National Youth Advisory Council. If you know a teen who is a leader in youth service, the application period for the next generationOn Youth Advisory Council opens on Tuesday, March 13, on www.generationOn.org.

Connected is one of my favorite words. So it is no wonder that being a volunteer helps me feel connected to my community. During high school, I was an avid volunteer at a local crisis nursery shelter for young children. I was invited, along with many of my peers, to join their Junior Board. The St. Louis Crisis Junior Board is comprised of young people (high school and college students) finding ways to promote the organization and assist with fundraisers for the agency. Junior Board members volunteer in the nursery with the children, help out at events and conduct their own smaller functions to benefit the Crisis Nursery Junior Board. It was an incredible opportunity for me to get involved, brainstorm, problem solve, and meet and share ideas with other dynamic youth volunteers. Teen advisory boards give youth a voice and demonstrate that adults are interested in hearing our ideas and suggestions. I was fortunate to find out about this volunteer and Junior Board opportunity from my neighbor. Yet, I was frustrated that it was so difficult to find volunteer opportunities for high school and middle school youth.

My brother and I searched online and realized there were limited opportunities for youth to volunteer on-site, since many organizations and nonprofit agencies had age restrictions due to safety, security and liability concerns. There was no regional website dedicated to youth volunteers. So my brother and I contacted local organizations that offered youth volunteer opportunities and encouraged others to create youth volunteer programs. We organized a regional website to make it easier for area youth to explore local volunteer opportunities. The success of the website inspired us to host an annual St. Louis Youth and Family Volunteer Fair and days of service for youth and families. The regional website serves as a resource for area schools, youth groups and nonprofit organizations.

We knew there were incredible opportunities for youth to volunteer throughout the United States at local libraries, serving on mayors’ youth advisory councils and at local hospitals, so we decided to create a national website for youth to explore and share volunteer opportunities in their communities and to encourage nonprofit agencies to find ways to include youth and families as volunteers. Every library, food bank and shelter can find ways to include youth volunteers. Youth want to get involved. VolunTEENnation.org wants America’s teens to give back to the community. To do this, Volunteen Nation is challenging every organization and American corporation to add a volunteer opportunity for teens to the site within the first 100 days.

To find youth volunteer resources check out generationon.org.

Healthy Messages

This is republished from today’s For the Win series on the White House blog. The series features the remarkable initiatives that young Americans are advancing to win the future for their communities

Nimansha Jain is a 2011 winner in Scholastic’s “Clifford BE BIG in Your Community Contest.” Scholastic Media, a division of Scholastic Inc., the global children’s publishing, education and media company, and HandsOn Network, the volunteer activation division of Points of Light and largest volunteer network in the nation, recently announced the call for submissions for the fourth annual contest. BE BIG invites kids of all ages, teachers, parents and community leaders to submit proposals that demonstrate how Clifford’s BIG Ideas can make the world a better place. Submitted ideas vie for the chance to win up to $10,000 in community grants from the BE BIG Fund to be used to implement the winning proposals. To coincide with the contest launch, Scholastic Media and HandsOn Network released a study, “It Starts with Character: Inspiring Kids & Teens to Volunteer” which found that kids and teens who have more exposure to character-building skills, such as sharing, being kind and helping others, are more likely to volunteer in their communities, and with greater frequency. For more information about youth making their mark on the world, visit generationOn, the youth activation division of Points of Light.

Many nutritionists report that a single stock of broccoli has more vitamin C than two hundred apples. It’s interesting facts like these that led me to lead a new project, called Live Well Lunching, with several active youth in Omaha, Neb., including my brother Mohit Jain. Inspired by the “These Come from Trees” initiative, which uses smart statistics to reduce paper use, I helped start this program which uses point of purchase prompts to help change student’s ideas on what it means to live healthy and fulfilling lives. As an active advocate for health and helping youth in Omaha live healthy lives, one of my main focuses and passion has been to be a healthy living advocate in my community. This program shows me, and youth who are involved with service-learning, the true impact that small, cost-effective, things can have on the everyday environment.

The current program has two components called the “Healthy Fact of the Week” and “Easy Choice.” Each fact uses smart messaging in order to present impactful statements so that students will make healthier choices. This ranges from portion sizes to direct health benefits. Who knew that just eating a single apple can help build your stamina in the gym? The Health Fact of the Week aims to utilize point of purchase prompts through facts that will engage students to recognize the consequences of the food choices they make and the reality of the healthy benefits provided by healthier alternatives. It’s these small phrases and ideas, that take just a quick glance, that leave an impact on students, even in the environment where a student’s only goal is to get in and out as quickly as possible.

The Easy Choice part of the program includes changes in operating procedures inside of the lunch line. This includes rearranging the food items, and changes to the names of the food items so that they are more appealing and exciting to youth. Easy Choice seeks to bring about changes in the arrangement of the facilities in which students choose and eat their food. It also focuses on the aesthetic appeal of the food, both in the manner the food is presented and the name that it is given. These few simple changes in the lunchroom environment have shown measurable change in the past.

The program is currently in its trial run at a local high school in Omaha. We hope to see measurable change through the program, and expand the program throughout the school district and to the rest of Omaha. It’s truly simple changes, and interesting ideas, that give vitality to youth today and drive their interest. As youth in our community, it is our responsibility to take action for our generation’s health. I hope to use this program to catalyze true change in my city of Omaha, towards a goal to reduce obesity in Omaha.

Change Notes: Supporting a Bipartisan Legacy of Service

Friends,

Demand for volunteer support is higher than ever. The waiting list for those seeking to serve through AmeriCorps, for example, has more than tripled since the beginning of the Great Recession. Local communities are dealing with the challenges of chronically high unemployment, increasing poverty, and children and families struggling each day to make ends meet, even as the economy slowly recovers. It is with this backdrop that Points of Light seeks to increase, not reduce the effective public-private partnerships we know are needed to equip individuals and organizations to serve.

This is why we are disappointed in several key elements of President Barack Obama’s proposed funding for national and community service. We understand that fiscal constraints mean tough choices, and we were heartened to see the administration maintained current spending levels for AmeriCorps and Senior Corps in the fiscal year 2013 budget request to Congress.

However, Points of Light strongly regrets that the proposed budget includes an elimination of the Volunteer Generation Fund(VGF). The VGF was created by the overwhelmingly bipartisan 2009 Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act to grow and strengthen community volunteerism in direct response to critical national priorities. It represents the heritage of service that began with President George H. W. Bush and has continued with each ensuing presidency.

For the past two years, while under-resourced as compared to its authorization levels, the Volunteer Generation Fund has seeded an array of innovative and impactful volunteer programs in 19 states:

• In Sioux City, Iowa, the VGF helped create a new volunteer center that mobilized thousands of volunteers to respond to the Missouri River flooding in 2011
• Florida targeted its VGF grant to areas with high poverty rates and engaged more than 7,000 low-income volunteers in 17 counties across the state
• Last spring, tornadoes decimated entire communities near Tuscaloosa, Ala.; the state used its VGF funds to support a 211 volunteer hotline that mobilized more than 60,000 volunteers to assist with disaster recovery

With less than $4 million, the Volunteer Generation Fund has set the stage for a new era of impact volunteering whereby citizen-led strategies, using measureable outcomes, are having a direct impact on the needs of communities. In education, disaster response, nutrition education and an array of locally determined priority areas, volunteers and volunteer-driven interventions are seeing results that matter.

We were also dismayed the president’s budget request did not restore funding for Learn and Serve, the federal government’s 20-year long commitment to service-learning. Service-learning uniquely binds our youth to their place in our civic life by giving them opportunities to serve as they achieve academically. This essential program should be reinstated.

As the largest volunteer network in the country, Points of Light and its network of 250 volunteer activation affiliates across the nation and around the world, will continue to advocate for growth in the Volunteer Generation Fund, for the reinstatement of Learn and Serve and for all public-private alliances that leverage the most cost-efficient and effective volunteer strategies that have proven impact on the nation’s challenges. In this way, we can truly engage the full power and breadth of our nation’s human capital in solving our nation’s problems and lifting up our communities.

To that end, we are pleased to announce the formation of a Volunteer Policy Working Group to build support for the Volunteer Generation Fund and similar federal, state and local policies and programs that enhance community volunteer opportunities and community volunteer impact. If you would like to join these efforts, please contact Julie Murphy, vice president for Government Affairs for Points of Light, at [email protected]

Yours in service,

Michelle Nunn CEO, Points of Light

Change Notes: The Eli J. Segal Entrepreneurship Award

Friends,

Eli Segal was an architect of the modern national service movement and an extraordinary civic entrepreneur.

An aide to President Bill Clinton, Eli was instrumental in driving several of the Clinton administration’s most praised projects. He helped create AmeriCorps – the national service program that today deploys Americans to serve in communities across the country – and he went on to serve as the first CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service, the agency established to run federal service programs. Nelson Mandela turned to the “father of AmeriCorps” for uniting post-apartheid South Africa through service. Eli and President Clinton helped realize Mandela’s vision of black and white youth serving side by side through the creation of City Year-South Africa. During the overhaul of the federal welfare system, he was the “chief implementer” – finding 20,000 companies to move one million Americans from welfare to work.

Since his death in 2006, Eli’s spirit of service has been embodied by the community impact made by the more than 700,000 current and alumni members of AmeriCorps. To celebrate his legacy, AmeriCorps Alums, Points of Light’s national network for all AmeriCorps national service alumni, annually awards the prestigious Eli J. Segal Entrepreneurship Award.

This year, the award will honor two outstanding AmeriCorps Alums who demonstrate the essence of citizen service that Eli so well embodied. This is the highest honor awarded by AmeriCorps Alums. Along with lifetime membership in the Eli J. Segal Citizen Leadership Program, winners will also receive $5,000 to be used to continue their citizen leadership efforts and/or community initiative, and be recognized at a special AmeriCorps Alums event.

If you or someone you know is an AmeriCorps Alum with the entrepreneurial vision and leadership to create change, now is the time to share your story. Applications for the award are due by Feb. 29, 2012.

Yours in service,

Michelle Nunn

CEO, Points of Light

Change Notes: Reflections on MLK Day

Friends,

This weekend, I joined with millions of Americans to reflect and act upon Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s words and life. Points of Light worked in partnership and galvanized more than 250,000 people in service projects and forums for conversation about Dr. King’s legacy and his vision of a “beloved community” on the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service.

We have seen terrific response to Points of Light’s initiative to create a self-organized movement of individuals and groups coming together to celebrate Dr. King through America’s Sunday Suppers. People from diverse backgrounds came together to share a meal, watch thought-provoking films, discuss issues such as hunger, poverty and homelessness that families and veterans are facing today, and be inspired to take action.

One example of an extraordinary partnership is with the sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha (Coretta Scott King’s sorority). Each of the sorority’s more than 950 chapters hosted Sunday Suppers and service projects to commemorate the life and legacy of Dr. King. More than 20,000 participated in dinner, a documentary movie, meaningful discussion and service projects. The sorority also engaged 5,000 middle school girls participating in its Emerging Young Leaders program in service projects focused on human rights and creating equal opportunities for all Americans.

I gathered a diverse group of Atlanta friends and leaders around my own dining table on Sunday. We broke bread and talked about the bright spots and challenges in our community in terms of race, class and the unfulfilled dimensions of Dr. King’s dream. We talked about how Dr. King’s nonviolent and creative dissent continues to animate our world – from the Arab Spring to Occupy Wall Street.

We reflected upon how both relevant and near Dr. King remains to us. One of our participants, journalist Maria Saporta, shared her personal story of being a grade school friend of Yolanda King and her sleepovers with the King family. Maria recalled partnering with Dr. King to wash the King family dishes. She shared her memories of his enormous personal magnetism alongside of his ability to respectfully engage her in conversation as an 11-year-old child. Dr. King’s life and message is still very close at hand and closer still, when we join together in service and social action.

Today, on MLK Day, we are seeing continued growth in the number of participants.

• HandsOn Network, Points of Light’s network of local volunteer action centers, engaged more than 14,600 volunteers through 24 affiliates and partners organizing more than 320 projects. Additional projects will take place in all 50 states, including weatherizing homes, beautifying schools, serving meals and supporting veterans and military families. Many organizations use the day as a springboard for year-round service, such as signing up mentors and tutors for at-risk youth.
• Points of Light awarded six grants to organizations throughout the country to mobilize more than 185,000 volunteers and impact more than 500,000 people.
• Our youth activation enterprise, generationOn, hosted Grow Involved! at  PS 57 in East Harlem where 600 kids, families and community groups viewed an excerpt from “Whatever it Takes” by Christopher Wong, then broke into small groups to discuss the film and participate in a hands-on service project. More than 20,000 students, parents and teacher also gained access to Grow Involved! toolkits to expand service-learning opportunities.
• AmeriCorps Alums, Points of Light’s national network for all AmeriCorps national service alumni, brought together service leaders at chapters across the country to mobilize 1,000 in Sunday Suppers.
• Points of Light’s Corporate Institute, which enables companies to engage their employees and customers in service, provided tools to help employers recognize MLK Day both in their offices and at off-site service projects.

Earlier today, I joined hands with Delta employees and volunteers in Atlanta to make 6,000 lunches to be distributed by Hosea Feed the Hungry and Homeless. I worked hand in hand with my 9-year-old son, Vinson. When talking about his role, Vinson recounted having personally put together “thousands” of lunches for people in Atlanta who are homeless on this day. And, indeed, Vinson, working together with hundreds of others, did feed thousands and these efforts rippled out across the country in real and meaningful ways to fortify and inspire us to integrate Dr. King’s undone work in our own life’s work in the coming year.

Yours in service,

Michelle Nunn

CEO, Points of Light

Change Notes: The Spirit of the Season

Friends,

This is a Season in which we turn our attention to children. We are delighted and refreshed by their capacity to see the world as magical and good. They help us reignite our own belief in small and large miracles. At its best, the Holidays evoke our sense of wonder and the ability to see our neighbors both near and far with empathy and solidarity. In that light, I was struck by a story that was sent to me last week about a group of children and military service men and women – those individuals in our nation that embody our most profound values of service and sacrifice.

Points of Light has more than 1,800 registered generationOn Clubs made up of kids volunteering in extraordinary ways throughout the year. Over the last year, Club members across the country and the world have made “smile sacks” for kids in foster care, put together breakfast bags for the homeless, sang songs and played Irish tin whistles for residents of a nursing home and advocated for the adoption of shelter animals, among many, many other projects. The following is an excerpt from an email sent by the leader of Universal City Kids Club Care, a generationOn Club in Universal City, Texas, about the club’s holiday project.

“This month, our kids voted to support the Wounded Warrior Family Support Center. We held our meeting to prepare the kids for the injuries they might see during the event. We downloaded a disability etiquette manual from a spinal cord association and discussed injuries the kids may encounter. Each child was given an injury, asked to act it out and tell the rest of the group how they wanted to be treated.

Later that night, we welcomed home a Wounded Warrior from the hospital. We went dressed in red, white and blue and all of us were waving flags. We chose one child to give him a blanket that we all signed. A balloon popped while we were there and the Marine jumped and started to cry. One girl understood the effects of PTSD and asked him if she could give him a hug. We presented him with the blanket and he said he was so grateful for it. Later, as we were walking away, he came up to us and said, ‘Hey, I just want all of you to know I am going to sleep with this! It is like a great big hug.’ We took cards, cupcakes, letters, stamps and blankets to the Wounded Warrior Family Support Center the following week. There were about 250 people there. We delivered all of the cupcakes and they were calling us the ‘cupcake kids.’ We then gave each child a blanket and told them to find someone that had an injury that they had during our meeting and give it to them. The kids spread out and gave out their blankets. These men were so grateful for their blankets. We wished we had 100 more to give out. We told them we appreciated their service and dedication to our country and thanked them for their sacrifice.

Afterward, we talked to the kids about giving and how much better it felt to give than to receive. The kids told us what they learned. While staring in the face of the most catastrophic injuries I have ever seen on a human being, those kids saw a man. I have NEVER been more proud of any kids in my life than I am of these kids.”

This simple exchange between young people and our wounded warriors reminds us of the fundamental grounding and transforming power of empathy. It is the animating spirit of our great religious traditions and of this Season of Giving. This is the hope of the Season – our children bearing witness to the ultimate power and guiding light of compassion.

May you all be inspired and renewed by the spirit of the Season and may compassion and service to others guide us all in the coming year.

Yours in service,

    Michelle Nunn CEO, Points of Light

Change Notes: Three Million Give Back on Make A Difference Day

Friends,

Last Saturday, 50 women in Florida held a baby shower for someone they had never met: an Arkansas woman widowed this summer when her Navy SEAL husband was killed in Afghanistan. They collected more than $2,500 in gifts and filled a journal with heartfelt messages to the family. “We’re a military community,” said organizer Sue Bynum. “We need to take care of our own. Whether we know them or not, they’re ours.”

This was just one story from the three million volunteers who joined together in service on Oct. 22 as part of Make A Difference Day, the largest day of community service each year

For more than two decades, Points of Light has partnered with USA Weekend to sponsor Make A Difference Day. It is the day we celebrate the power of people to use their time, talent, voice and money to create change.

Our collective effort has grown over the years to include people from all walks of life – young and old, families, those from communities large and small. These volunteers see a problem or an opportunity in their community and take action to address it. They touch the lives of millions and find their own lives changed and transformed.

More than 50 HandsOn Network affiliates hosted signature Make A Difference Day projects addressing a variety of community needs. In Washington, D.C., more than 200 volunteers – U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and his family, and employees from Make A Difference Day sponsors Citi and Gannett – worked together to revitalize J.C. Nalle Elementary School. Students from the school greeted the volunteers with cheers and encouraged them throughout their work – painting, landscaping, play space building and improvements to the school’s library.

Make A Difference Day volunteer projects from around the world included: building houses in Kenya; preparing care packages in Florida for soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq; conducting seminars about finance and careers to students in China; renovating an orphanage in Honduras; raising money for police and firefighter widows in New York; packing food and clothing for the homeless in California; rebuilding a park in Massachusetts; cleaning beaches in Brunei, Japan and Guam; and beautifying parks in England and the Philippines.

Along with getting their hands dirty at service projects, these volunteers also voiced their commitment to serve with two million people using the #MDDay11 Twitter hashtag and more than 268,000 engaging on the Make A Difference Day Facebook page.

You can continue to make a difference by submitting your Make A Difference Day project on the DAYtaBANK for an opportunity to win one of 10 $10,000 grants from Newman’s Own for the nonprofit of your choice. Sharing your story also makes you eligible to win one of three $100 Citi prepaid cards or the grand prize of a $500 Citi prepaid card.

We also encourage you to join the Make A Difference Day photo album by submitting your volunteer photos with #MDDay11 or on the DAYtaBANK.

As we move into the season of Thanksgiving, Make a Difference Day serves as an important reminder that volunteer service can be a means to strengthen communities and build bonds. We thank USA WEEKEND for its ongoing commitment to not only inform, but also inspire people to action.

Yours in service,

Michelle Nunn

CEO, Point of Light